Zircons are used to date some of the earliest and most dramatic cataclysms of the solar system, but a study of zircons from a gigantic meteorite impact in South Africa casts doubt on the methods used to date lunar impacts.

New Hubble Jupiter views are helping scientists monitor the giant planet and prepare for NASA’s Juno mission, which will arrive there next year.

Our week through the lens: 12-16 October 2015

The formation, known as Mafic Mound, stands in the middle of a giant impact crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

The Cassini spacecraft has begun returning its best-ever views of the northern extremes of Saturn’s icy ocean-bearing moon.

ESA’s first technology-testing CubeSat, released last week from the International Space Station, is in good health and is set to start work on its six-month mission.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has begun returning its best-ever views of the northern extremes of Saturn’s icy, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus.

Join us Friday, 16 October, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of the Red Sea

Before the latest satellite for Copernicus is packed up and shipped to the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia for launch at the end of the year, the media and specialists were given the chance to see this next-generation mission centre-stage in…

For a piloted mission to Mars, fueling up on the Moon could streamline cargo by 68 percent.

Experiments suggest the surface of Ceres could consist largely of a mish-mash of meteoritic material collected over billions of years of bombardment.

Technology image of the week: prototype rovers and landers in ESA’s test environment ‘Mars Yard’

Catastrophic flooding triggered by ice melting from the heat of volcanic activity is thought to be responsible for the chaotic scenery depicted in this region of the Mangala Valles channel network.

Access our top news stories, videos and images, as well as news in your language, via our new mobile ESA website

Looking into Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere and its famous Great Red Spot with the Hubble telescope

A Berkeley investigation found astronomer Geoff Marcy to have sexually harassed students over the course of a decade or more.

The images revealed a rare wave just north of the planet’s equator and a unique filamentary feature in the core of the Great Red Spot not seen previously.

Images are expected to begin arriving one to two days after the flyby, which will provide the first opportunity for a close-up look at the north polar region.

Images are expected to begin arriving one to two days after the flyby, which will provide the first opportunity for a close-up look at the north polar region.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will wrap up its time in the region of Saturn’s large, icy moons with a series of three close encounters with Enceladus starting Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Imagine beaming a light across millions of kilometres of empty space, all the way back to Earth. ESA’s proposed Asteroid Impact Mission is intended to do just that: demonstrate laser communications across an unprecedented void.

A unique observational geometry of two solar probes uncovers a new solar phenomenon: large-scale waves accompanied by particles emissions rich in helium-3.

A study of spiral galaxies seen edge-on has revealed that “halos” of cosmic rays and magnetic fields above and below the galaxies’ disks are much more common than previously thought.

Human spaceflight and operations image of the week: Nalla, a female peregrine falcon, persuades other birds to nest away from our beautiful deep-space tracking dish

Space Science Image of the Week: ESA’s BepiColombo, a mission to explore planet Mercury, seen in a different light

The first color images of Pluto’s atmospheric hazes, returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft last week, reveal that the hazes are blue.

Satcoms are enabling smaller football clubs in Italy to broadcast their matches in high quality from 60 stadiums, via the Internet.

Our week through the lens: 5-9 October 2015

Saving information from today that people will want to access and study in the future is a critical function of all archives, but it is especially important when it comes to storing data from today’s telescopes.

Mars appears to have had a more massive atmosphere billions of years ago than it does today, with an active hydrosphere capable of storing water in long-lived lakes.

NASA is using data from Earth-observing satellites in space to aid in the response to the devastating flooding affecting the Carolinas.

A new study from NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity team confirms that Mars was, billions of years ago, capable of storing water in lakes over an extended period.

How astronauts adapt to the stresses of living in space is helping researchers to pinpoint the causes of common disorders on Earth.

From the brain’s point of view, living in space is very stressful. The signals from an astronaut’s body in space go haywire as they float in weightlessness. The inner ear reports that it is falling, but the eyes show that nothing is moving.

Join us Friday, 9 October, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-1A image of the Azore Islands in Portugal

Human spaceflight and operations image of the week: NASA astronaut Terry Virst demonstrates how he took ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s picture in space

These results have led to the conclusion that the ancient climate on Mars was warmer and wetter than previously assumed.

THEMIS images and mosaics appear briefly in a few scenes.

Technology image of the week: practical testing of the navigation camera planned to guide ESA’s proposed Asteroid Impact Mission around its double-asteroid target

The fast moving, wave-like structures are unlike anything ever observed in a circumstellar disk.

The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe.

October 6 marks the 20th anniversary of the first discovery of a planet orbiting a normal star.

A prestigious geology award will be presented in early November to a leader in selecting landing sites on Mars: Matt Golombek of JPL.

Space Invader art has arrived at ESA’s Earth observation centre in Italy

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory plays an important role in the novel and film “The Martian.”

Images from a NASA Mars orbiter’s telescopic camera reveal details of regions on Mars that serve as the setting for the new Hollywood movie, “The Martian.”

Snapshots from the Sunday 4 October 2015 Open Day at ESA’s technical heart, the most popular one yet

Space Science Image of the Week: ESA’s SMART-1 captures Moon’s pockmarked pole with stunning clarity

Researchers have developed a new method for measuring the mass of pulsars, even if a star exists on its own in space.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled its eighth hole on Mars this week.

Our week through the lens: 28 September – 2 October 2015

As formerly dark southern polar regions receive more sunlight, Rosetta starts to resolve their curious composition.

Using the Microwave for Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO) instrument aboard Rosetta, scientists have studied the southern polar regions of its target comet at the end of their long winter season.

Join us Friday, 2 October, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of the city of Berlin, in Germany

The New Horizons spacecraft has returned the best color and the highest resolution images yet of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon.

The selected proposals would study Venus, near-Earth objects, and a variety of asteroids.

This evening an Ariane 5 delivered two telecom satellites into their planned orbits after lifting off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Three proposed science investigations with JPL project management have been chosen by NASA for further investigation.

Mysteries and insights about Ceres are being discussed this week at the European Planetary Science Conference in Nantes, France.

New observations of the Phoenix Cluster at X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavelengths are helping astronomers better understand this remarkable object.

Ceres continues to amaze, yet puzzle scientists, as they examine the multitude of images, spectra, and now energetic particle bursts.

ESA’s SMOS and two other satellites are together providing insight into how surface winds evolve under tropical storm clouds in the Pacific Ocean. This new information could to help predict extreme weather at sea.

Technology image of the week: Visitor centre Space Expo will be participating in Sunday’s ESTEC Open Day with a bargain admission offer

Scientists from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission honor their deceased colleague, Claudia Alexander of JPL, by naming a feature after her on the mission’s target comet.

New technique more accurately determines the sources of ozone in a given area.

A unique portrait of ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen made for the Cupola observatory on the International Space Station by visual artist Vhils

The Herbig-Haro 24 complex contains no less than six jets streaming from a small cluster of young stars embedded in a molecular cloud in the direction of the constellation Orion.

Scientists have shown that the shape arose from a low-speed collision between two fully fledged, separately formed comets.

New findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.